


The taste of your memories

by LeviTA



Category: Call Me By Your Name (2017) RPF
Genre: Birthday Presents, Domestic Bliss, Fluff, Love, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 03:34:48
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,416
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21976678
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeviTA/pseuds/LeviTA
Summary: After a stressful year, Armie has a sweet birthday surprise for Timmy.
Relationships: Timothée Chalamet/Armie Hammer
Comments: 15
Kudos: 46





	The taste of your memories

**Author's Note:**

> Confession: I’m in love with Armie's love for food. I always wanted to write a story about Armie cooking. So I started writing this one and soon realised my knowledge about cooking and food vocabulary in English is very, very limited 🤦♂️ I tried to read up on the correct words to use. But please forgive me, if something is not exactly right. 
> 
> The story is dedicated to all fellow Charmies who maybe did not have the best time around Christmas. It often is a hard, stressful and/or melancholic time. Maybe this little story can lighten your mood for some minutes.

“Yeah, sure, I’ll make sure, that we are back in time.” He takes his phone away from his ear for a little moment, rolling his eyes, before he hurries to end the call. “Yes, thanks Brian, I really appreciate it.”  
The grin on his face grows wider as he realises, that his plan is going to work and what had started as a vague idea will be reality soon. He already charmed mama Chalamet a few days ago, so she is also informed, that Timmy will leave the Chalamet household soon after Christmas to celebrate his birthday and New Year’s Eve together with him. Now he only has to find a good moment to actually surprise Timmy with the news.

He chuckles as the idea crosses his mind to wait a few hours and FaceTime him when it’s actually six o’clock in the morning in New York. Tim will kill him, but it’s absolutely worth the moment to see him with tousled hair and sleepy eyes, trying to figure out, what’s going on.

In the meantime he will organise all they might need for their trip, so everything is set up and they won’t have any trouble with it, when it’s around the stressful Christmas time. A rented car and a fully equipped rented house will make them independent for their six days on the island. Somehow he can’t even believe that this is reality and they are both free of any obligations at that time. 

This year had been insane for both of them. He was basically filming nonstop and so was Timmy, including promo for The King an Little Women. It had not been an easy year so far. His divorce with Elizabeth is going to be announced publicly soon. Although they had known it for a long time and ended the romantic part of their relationship already the year before, the last months were hard and demanding. It was a lot of work to get the things right between them. And it still hurts him a lot, when he thinks about Hops and Ford, that they did not manage to built the perfect family for them. By now, at the end of November, it’s the first time he can somehow breathe again. They found a good and healthy way to organise his visits and his time together with the children. And thank god, somehow Harper and Ford seem to adapt easily with the new situation. He sends a silent prayer that it keeps going that way and his bond with the kids will stay strong.

He knows this whole emotional chaos was also not the easiest situation for Tim and he is forever grateful for his undying support and patience, even in his darkest hours, which had definitely been there. It almost took a toll on their relationship when Tim had to fake the “love” with Lily-Rose. In fact, it was Timmy’s and Brian's idea, in order to keep the media appearance of their private lives explicitly separated and he probably could avoid strange questions when his divorce is going to be announced. But seeing Tim involved in the Capri boat stunt nearly had killed him with jealousy even though he knew it was just fake. And Timmy was also suffering like mad because of all the lies he was suddenly involved. Pretending shit when you actually love another person is nothing they are both able to pull off they learned. When Tim wanted him to be his plus one for the red carpet in London, he actually denied, because he did not trust himself to be able to hide his love for Tim any longer and not kiss him senseless in front of all the cameras. The day after the premiere the two of them had a long talk, and later together with Brian they decided to end the PR contract with Lily ahead of time. Timmy’s relief was clearly visible throughout the whole Australia and South Korea promo. He was literally glowing and Armie was bursting with pride that this bundle of energy is his boyfriend. Even Timmy’s fans on the internet were speculating that something must have shifted to the better. He chuckles, if only they know, how right they were. 

~*~*~

“God Armie, do you know what time it is?” Timmy groans, flopping himself back into a lying position on his bed, holding his phone loosely in one hand. “Why are you so wide awake and beaming like a Christmas tree? It’s in the middle of the fucking night in LA. And before you ask, no, I was not awake.” He closes his eyes again but smiles, unable to fake real annoyance, because he loves it, when Armie’s voice is the first thing he hears in the morning. 

“I just missed your grumpy morning mood.” Timmy opens one eye, his vision still a bit blurry from sleep, but he knows exactly that Armie is onto something, when he has this mischievous wide smile on his lips and the fine lines are showing around his eyes, which makes his smile even more blinding.  
“Armie Hammer, you are an idiot. What’s going on? I know you, there’s something. Spill.” He moves his index finger of his free hand in the direction of the display as though he wants to poke him in the chest. 

Armies smile softens to one full of love and affection, which is only reserved for Timmy. “You are right. Actually I have an early birthday present for you.” He registers the frown between Timmy’s brows. “Doesn’t it mean bad luck when you get early presents?” Now with both eyes open Timmy is getting in a sitting position between the huge mountains of several pillows behind him. “Oh babe, you are really superstitious, aren’t you?” Armie’s laughter echoing through the speaker. “But don’t be afraid, it only brings bad luck if you congratulate before the actual birthday. It says nothing about early presents. And I’m not giving you any wishes now.” 

Timmy places his phone on the pile of his blanket in front of him, leaning it against his knees. Now giggling about his own reservations. “I love early birthday presents.”

“There is this one promise, which I was never able to bring it into reality until now. I still own you a trip to the Cayman Islands to show you the places where I grew up and haunted wild animals in the jungle.”

Timmy’s eyes lightens up immediately, but he can’t stop the witty comment escaping his lips “I believe the part with growing up but not the one with the wild animals.” snickering slightly.  
“We’ll see.” Armie winks. “Want to join me? Six days, you and me on the Cayman Islands, celebrating your birthday and New Year’s Eve together. Just the two of us, enjoying every second of it?”

“Hmm, I’d love to.” Timmy hums happily, just before he adds sadly “But I have several appointments with Brian going on after Christmas.”

“Not anymore.” Armie grins at the expression on Timmy’s face, clearly seeing how his mind is trying to catch up with all the information. “I gave him a call and told him, I will kidnap you and never bring you back unless he will give you these days off. And even better, I told him, he is not allowed to call you during that time. How does that sound?”

Timmy is laughing out loud at Armie’s determination, almost kicking off his phone from his knees. “What have I done right in my life to deserve such a silly boyfriend.” He blows a number of kisses in Armie’s direction, giggling with joy. “My mother will be whining that I’m always away for my birthday.” 

“Nope, I already wrapped mama Chalamet around the finger with my plans to make you happy and relaxed at the end of the year.”

“Oh my god Armie, I hope, you didn’t tell her exactly, how you are going to get me happy and relaxed.” The dirty grin on Timmy’s face is priceless. Yeah, the innocent, young, aspiring actor. Not. “Sure, I did. Eating, sleeping, taking walks on the beach. Or, do you have other plans, babe?”

~*~*~

Four weeks later Armie is happily sitting in a car on the Cayman Island doing some grocery shopping for their days on the island. Unfortunately it didn’t work out to come here together. So he already arrived the day before, flying over from LA. Timmy is about to land in an hour and he will pick him up at the airport. It’s Tim’s actual birthday today and he wants to surprise him with a dinner. The rented house is absolutely stunning with a private part of the beach, pool, beautiful patio, several balconies, two bedrooms, two bathrooms and a big kitchen with direct access to the patio and – fun story – is named “peach”. Armie smirks at that. Of course it’s named after the colour of the house. But possibly – maybe – it had influenced his decision a little bit, to rent exactly this one. He laughs and shakes his head about himself. He’s so gone for his boy and all the things they experience together. With the trunk full of good food stuff, he enters the parking lot of the airport just at the right time. Only twenty minutes and a lot of kisses later they are on the way back to their holiday house. 

Timmy is positively beaming, when he enters the villa, marvelling the stunning view to the ocean. “Best birthday present every, best boyfriend ever.” He kisses Armie again and again after exploring the house like a little over-excited puppy. They are standing in the middle of the kitchen for several minutes, just hugging each other, being relieved to have some quality time together, far away from all the real life obligations. “Be my guest tonight.” Armie whispers in Timmy’s ear, not wanting to destroy the quiet moment. “I want to cook for you and spoil you for the rest of the evening.” 

“Sounds good, baby.” Timmy almost purrs, feeling a little tired from the long flight. “Just want a quick shower before that.” Burying his nose into Armie’s neck, inhaling deeply, before he takes a step back to bring his luggage into the bedroom. 

Armie is about to empty the trunk of the car when Timmy is on his way to the bathroom, arm full of towels and shower gel, laughing at all the paper bags. “Did you invite a whole soccer team for dinner? I thought it was just us!”

“As the most sensitive actor of your generation, you’re really unemotional about food. Aren’t you?” Armie teases, but he knows it’s just their typical banter. Mocking Tim about his non-existent knowledge about good food.  
“Not everyone is a 6‘5 giant with the equivalent appetite.” With that, Timmy throws one of the towels at him, which he easily dodges. “It’s about quality, Chalamet, not quantity.” With a huge grin he throws the towel back, hitting Timmy’s beloved curls which gains him an annoyed glare and Timmy disappearing behind the bathroom door. 

In the meantime he tries to use the time effectively to prepare their dinner. He starts with the dessert, which needs its time to cool in the fridge for an hour or more. Afterwards he washes and cuts all the ingredients putting them in different small bowls to have them at his fingertips on the right time. He sets up a small amount of lemon zests from the lemons he bought at the supermarket and mixes them with a good amount of butter. The fresh and fruity scent soon fills the whole kitchen. He takes a look at the steaks, acknowledging their excellent quality and setting up a grilling pan on the stove, searing the steaks for a short amount of time, before he adds some sprigs of rosemary, freshly ground pepper and puts the pan in the oven with not too much heat. 

He’s about to find the glasses for the white wine, when two arms are wrapped around his torso, with a cuddly Timmy sighing “I missed you so much.” He loves how clingy Timmy gets, when they did not see each other for a longer time period, as if he’s trying to refill his sensory memory with how Armie feels and smells and warms his body. He puts one of his hands over Timmy’s, linking their fingers, pausing his movements to give Timmy this moment before he makes him to leave the kitchen not wanting to get his surprise menu spoiled. To make it up for it, he brings Timmy a glass of wine as their aperitif joining him on the patio. “Pinot Grigio, 2018. Excellent vintage, extra tangy with the fruity notes of ripe melons and mango and a beautiful golden colour.” He holds the glass against the sun, smiling at Timmy, who cackles at Armie’s attempts as a wine steward. They slightly clink their glasses looking into each other’s eyes. “I am glad we are here. Thank you for this birthday surprise. I’d like to know all about your childhood places.” Timmy catches Armie’s lips in a chaste kiss, enjoying their moment. Armie is forever touched by Tim’s sincere interest in all of his backstory, present or past, never judging him, always supporting him. 

He lights up a candle, brings over some plates and the cutlery, a carafe filled with water and some lemon slices together with the wine cooler and the bottle of the Pinot Grigio. Armie returns to the kitchen to get the other dishes done. Fries small potato cubes in butter, adds the mangetouts after some minutes to the pan, sautéing them together with the potatoes. A hint of garlic, sea salt and pepper – just enough to mesh with the vegetables and to bring out all the right layers of their flavour.

Timmy is lounging in one of the big armchairs savouring the last bits of sunshine, when Armie comes over, a small plate with the starters in his hand. With a smile on his lips, he picks one of the pieces “Close your eyes and try this.” Timmy shuts his eyes but frowns, pulling his head back a little bit. “Don’t be so skittish, I won’t poison you.” Armie chuckles, amused about Timmy’s reservation. “You should just concentrate on the taste, the feeling it causes in you. Trust me.” When Timmy relaxes again, he traces the piece of something over Timmy’s bottom lip, just letting him taste it. “What do you feel?” 

“Cold. Sweet.” Timmy is trying to catch more of the remaining flavour with the tip of his tongue on his lips, so Armie puts the piece of fruit into his mouth. “Melon?”  
“All of that is right. Honeydew melon. But what do you feel when you eat it? Does it make you remembering about something?” Armie picks another piece from the plate, letting Tim eat it with still closed eyes. “Ehh, Armie, it’s salty now … and sweet. The melon together with something?” 

Armie kisses the corner of his mouth. He’s about to tell Timmy what combination of food it was. “Hm, wait, I remember. Luca, in Crema had also made these. The melon wrapped in ham. It was one of the days where the weather was actually nice and sunny and we were sitting outside until late in the night, eating and talking.” Armie notices the dreamy smile that curls the corners of Timmy’s mouth and is more than pleased. Exactly what he wanted. “Prosciutto di Parma. You’re absolutely right. The different flavours complement each other perfectly and sensitise our sense of taste.” 

“I think it was the evening, where I began to wonder, who this Armie Hammer guy really is. You were so different that evening.” Timmy muses. “No, that’s actually not true. You were not different, you were completely yourself for the first time.” He opens his eyes, meeting Armies fond smile.  
“See, that’s what I like about food and eating. It’s not just being not hungry anymore. Flavours and smells are deeply connected with our memory. Eating is feeling, remembering things. Especially certain aromas will make you recollect situations and how you experienced them. “Wait, I’ll show you.”

Armie goes back to the kitchen, fetching some of the remaining rosemary sprigs. “Close your eyes again.” holding the rosemary directly under Timmy’s nose. “You know what this is?” 

“Not really. But I know, I smelled it before.” He opens his eyes again and Armie can see the exact moment when the memories flashes into Timmy’s awareness. “Also in Crema. The bushes around the villa, also next to the tiny door, when we were filming the biking scenes.” he utters exited. “Every time we entered the door it smelled like that.” Armie’s pleased smile grows even wider. 

“In fact, you can also feel this aroma.” Timmy eyes Armie suspiciously, like he wants to feed him a line. “It’s true! Give me your hand.” So he rubs the branches on the back of Timmy’s hand waiting for a reaction. “It’s cold, somehow?” 

Armie nods his head. “It feels like it’s cold. That are the essential oils, the leafs are full of it. It’s similar to the cooling effect of peppermint. And not only that, it has also an exceptional taste, when you combine it with matching ingredients and in the right dose. Not too much, because it could easily overlay other flavours.” 

Afterwards he serves the main course. While sprinkling Fleur de Sel on top of the rosemary steaks and draping a slice of the lemon butter on it, they happily chat about the one time Timmy almost fell into one of these rosemary bushes because he lost the balance on his bike throughout a friendly bickering with Armie on one of their bike tours. “Which means, I would have been a perfectly spiced steak on two legs, if you hadn’t grabbed my sleeve and saved me from falling over.” Timmy laughs out loud at the absurdity of this thought. “Basically yes, and I would have probably devoured you right there and then.” Armie winks. 

“Normally I would have served a red wine together with the steaks, but I wanted to keep it light and simple. The white wine is good company for the rosemary and the slight sweetness of the mangetouts and won’t make us too tired.” They eat in companionable silence, sharing memories from time to time, hands touching here and there. 

The sun had already set, when they leave their chairs on the table to settle on the big sofa, which is also part of the lounge furniture on the patio. Armie fetches a blanket as a chilly wind comes over from the ocean. In his other hand he has a bowl with the dessert. “Only one dessert, Mr.-head-chef?” Timmy teases. “Sharing is caring, babe.” And with that the first fully loaded spoon lands in Armie’s mouth. “Hey!” followed by a slight slap on his shoulder. “What about my lessons about food?” They cuddle together under the warming blanket, enjoying being so close to each other, when Armie scoops a spoon full of dessert into Timmy’s mouth. He’s in absolutely in love with the smile, which spreads over Timmy’s face after the ingredients unfold their full aroma on his tongue. “Sooo, good. It looks like Tiramisù. But taste not exactly like that.” 

“You are getting better, babe. It’s indeed Tiramisù, but I changed some things about the recipe. Don’t tell Luca about it. He’s going to hate me.” Armie giggles like a little school boy. “I dipped the ladyfingers into peach liqueur and between each layer of mascarpone is a thin layer of puréed fresh peach. And I reduced the amount of sugar, so it’s not getting too sweet without the espresso.” 

Timmy loves how passionate Armie is about all of this but a mischievous smile creeps on his face. He takes the spoon with some dessert on it seductively licking it into his mouth staring directly into Armie’s eyes. “So you are telling me, you basically combined peach with creamy white substances and actually ate it?” Armie barks out a laughter “I don’t know, what you’re implying here.” gently biting in Timmy’s earlobe making him squirm. Just to whisper “You know what, you can have the whole bowl of Tiramisù on your own, I have a better idea for my dessert.” With that, Timmy feels a warm hand sneaking under his hoodie and kisses along his neckline. 

The bowl of Tiramisù is soon forgotten.

~fin~

**Author's Note:**

> *Seriously, is ladyfinger the right English term for the biscuits you put into Tiramisù? It’s so funny 😅
> 
> *fun fact: there really is a luxurious vacation house on the Cayman Island called “peach”.
> 
> *just in case: levi-tation-1983 on tumblr


End file.
